Total semiconductor unit shipments (integrated circuits and opto-sensor-discrete, or O-S-D, devices) are forecast to continue their upward march through the current cyclical period and top one trillion units for the first time in 2017, according to IC Insights.

Semiconductor unit shipments will increase to 1,024.5 billion devices in 2017 from 32.6 billion in 1978, which amounts to average annual growth of 9.2% over the 39 year period and demonstrates how increasingly dependent the world is on semiconductors, IC Insights said. From 2009 to 2014, the average annual growth rate of semiconductor units was 7.6% - somewhat slower than the long-term growth rate - due to global economic uncertainties through that five-year period. Stronger 8.2% annual growth is forecast from 2014 to 2019 as momentum strengthens for electronic systems, the research firm indicated.

Semiconductor unit shipments first topped the 100-billion mark in 1987, exceeded 500-billion units for the first time in 2006 and then surpassed 600-billion units in 2007 before the global financial meltdown and recession caused semiconductor shipments to fall in 2008 and 2009, the only time the industry has experienced a back-to-back decline in unit shipments. Semiconductor unit growth then surged 25% in 2010, the second-highest growth rate since 1978. IC Insights forecasts semiconductor unit growth of 10.0% in 2015 and 11.0% in 2016. The semiconductor unit growth rate is forecast to fall to only 3.4% in 2017, enough to push annual shipments beyond one trillion devices for the first time.

The percentage split of IC and O-S-D devices within total semiconductor units has remained fairly steady despite advances in integrated circuit technology and the blending of functions to reduce chip count within systems, IC Insights noted. In 1978, O-S-D devices accounted for 79% of semiconductor units and ICs represented 21%. Almost 40 years later in 2017, O-S-D devices are forecast to account for 74% of total semiconductor units, compared to 26% for ICs.

Categories: Bits + chips IC design, distribution IC manufacturing

Tags: 2017 IC IC Insights semiconductor shipments